Recommended iTunes Settings for Optimal Audio Quality

Big surprise ! Just realize there is a simple way to configure our Mac for Optimal Audio Quality.

First things first, all CD produces a sound sample-rate of 16 bit and 44.1 KHz, and many audiophile fans we know, who use very expensive upsampling devices to play back their CDs i.e. upsampling 24 bit / 96 KHz.

Don’t believe ? Have a try the following links :

16 bit / 44.1 KHz
http://www.soundkeeperrecordings.com/tracks/sr001-01-1644.wav

24 bit / 96 KHz
http://www.soundkeeperrecordings.com/tracks/sr001-01-2496.wav

The difference is obvious, right? I am amazed that I still have people doubting the what seems to me to be obvious difference in quality between the two formats. 24 bit / 96 KHz is the clear winner to me.

The good news is, we don’t need to spend any money for this upsampling device as it is already built in with our Mac computer. What we need is :-

Download and update our iTunes to the latest version
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

1. On your Mac, click Go -> Utilities -> Audio MIDI Setup
2. Click Build-in Output
3. Source : Internal Speakers
4. Format : 96 Hz
5. Format : 2ch-24bit
6. Close Audio MIDI Setup
7. Open iTunes, set iTunes volume (top left hand side) to “Full”
8. Make sure in the Preference of the iTunes ->Playback, uncheck the “Sound Check” & “Sound Enhancer”
9. Enjoy !!

An easy, all-inclusive setup is to set AudioMIDI to 96kHz before launching iTunes and keep AudioMIDI at 96kHz. This will lock iTunes at 96 kHz, which will upsample all sample-rates lower then 96 kHz. Setting the default to 96 kHz would allow playback of high-resolution 96 kHz 24-bit files without any processing, and would utilize the high-quality iTunes only when playing low resolution 44.1 and 48 kHz files, or the rare 88.2 kHz file.